2016 Goodbyes: 2011-2016 LMP2

A final farewell for a truly memorable era for customer prototype racing

4 January 2017, 11:55 AM

It’s been quite a run since 2011, but it’s now time to say goodbye to the 2011-2016 crop of LMP2s. From 2017 onwards, the cars will only be racing in the AsLMS as grandfathered entries, as the FIA WEC and IMSA welcomes the new-for-2017 quartet of P2 chassis and spec Gibson engine.

During the past regulation cycle’s tenure, 18 chassis were homologated, though many of those were either evolutions of older cars, or just re-badged for brands like Alpine and Mazda. They went on to win multiple titles and races in the hands of countless customer teams, and in the process transformed the LMP2 class from an expensive one, with unreliable cars, into a budding grid of increasingly professional teams and drivers competing around the world.

Back in 2010, the ACO created the regulations to come into effect for the 2011 season as a cost-cutting measure, with various safety enhancements, including the dorsal fin, also becoming mandatory.

In the early years the grids fluctuated, with the ELMS’ playing host to strong fields, while the ALMS and ILMC struggled to hit more than a handful for many races.

But as time passed, and the more recent chassis like the Ligier JS P2 and Oreca 05 took over, the racing went from strength to strength. During the 2016 FIA WEC season, the LMP2 class most certainly came of age, and the numbers seen at Le Mans over the past few years have exceeded those of an entire Formula One field.

And that’s partly why the changes for 2017 came as such a shock. The 2011-2016 regulation cycle featured an incredible amount of variety in chassis, and at points even in engines (despite the fact that Nissan engines consistently won big races and titles against competition from Judd, BMW, Mazda and Honda). So many drivers have also made names for themselves driving them, be it Harry Tincknell, Oliver Turvey, Paul Loup Chatin, Pipo Derani or Olivier Pla. It’s been quite an era.

That’s all in the past now, and it seems that the teams have willingly decided to move on to the newer, faster cars.

Will the next set of LMP2 s continue the upward trend of LMP2’s status in world motorsport though? Only time will tell. For now though, it seems there’s plenty to look forward to.

But before we look ahead to what the next few years will bring, lets have a look at all the chassis, the major titles, and big race wins over the past six seasons from the LMP2 classes.